A polypeptide comprising an immunogenic portion of an M. tuberculosis antigen for compositions and methods to prevent, treat and diagnose tuberculosis

摘要

Compounds and methods for inducing protective immunity against tuberculosis are disclosed. The compounds provided include polypeptides that contain at least one immunogenic portion of one or more M. tuberculosis proteins and DNA molecules encoding such polypeptides. Such compounds may be formulated into vaccines and/or pharmaceutical compositions for immunization against M. tuberculosis infection, or may be used for the diagnosis of tuberculosis. Compounds and methods for preventing and diagnosing tuberculosis are provided. Polypeptides comprising an immunogenic portion of an M tuberculosis antigen, or a variant of such an antigen differing only in conservative substitutions and/or modifications, the antigen comprising an amino acid sequence encoded by a DNA sequence, are also provided. A polypeptide comprising an immunogenic portion of an M. tuberculosis antigen having the amino acid sequence SEQ ID NO: 142 and variants thereof is also provided.